Guilty Bystander
by milesmorales
Summary: Yang, Blake, and Velvet go to dinner at a nice restaurant.


Author's Notes: Got the basis of this prompt from /RWBYg/ on 4chan. Wanted to take a break from _Raising Kids Ain't Easy_, but I'll get back to that soon. The usual disclaimers about ownership, or (more accurately) the lack thereof apply.

* * *

"Blake," Yang said, poking idly at her applesauce with a spoon, "You're friends with Velvet, right?"

Blake, who was spending this breakfast scribbling down notes for her Atlasian literature class, looked up in surprise at the sudden question. They were eating alone today, which was fairly unusual. Ruby had stayed up late the previous night studying and was catching up on sleep now. Weiss had gotten up early and gone into town to send some messages to friends and family back in Atlas. Jaune and Pyrrha had stopped by briefly, but stayed only long enough to say hello and mention that Nora was apparently feeling under the weather. They looked worried, but said she'd probably show up at class anyway. Ren was staying with Nora, of course. Those two were practically joined at the hip.

Yang had spent breakfast chattering away at Blake, a stream of consciousness that required little response on her part. Blake occasionally felt bad for not engaging Yang in conversation, but she needed the time to study and Yang seemed perfectly content to listen to her own monologue as long as she got the occasional "mm-hm," or "yeah?" in response. They partook in these one-sided conversations often and in truth Blake probably enjoyed them as much as Yang. Yang was like a radio, Blake thought, white noise in the background, just with less music and more gossip about cute boys.

Yang asking a direct question like that, and in a serious tone was unusual, especially since Blake didn't think Yang had been talking about Velvet at all. She saw Yang's expectant look and realized she hadn't answered. "Um, yeah," she said hesitantly. "I mean, she's in our History class and I talk to her occasionally, why?"

"I was thinking we could do something together," Yang said, looking at the girl in question who at the moment was sitting at a table by herself, nose in a book and munching idly on some celery sticks. "Dinner or something," Yang continued, "what do you think?"

Blake thought it was weird. In spite of the blonde's chatty nature, Blake couldn't remember the last time Yang actually spoke with Velvet. "What brought this on?" she asked, cautiously.

Yang shrugged nonchalantly. "She's had a rough couple of weeks and she could use a break. We had that big test in history and then CFVY has been working extra hard preparing for that mission and-" Yang stopped herself abruptly and started again. "And she doesn't have a lot of friends outside her team."

Blake considered pressing Yang, but decided to just let her curiosity go. "So the four of us and her?" she asked instead.

"I was thinking the two of us?" Yang said hopefully.

There was that stab of curiosity again and this time, in spite of the proverb she was never really a fan of, she submitted to it. "Yang," she said, "what's going on here?"

"Nothing's going on," Yang protested. "But you know how she is, if it's the four of us we're all going to be talking together and she's going to be left out." Blake nodded in agreement slowly and Yang, emboldened, continued.

"Plus Ruby's still a kid. She's great, but still young. And Weiss..." Yang trailed off. Blake didn't need her to finish. Weiss had been getting along with people a lot better than she had at the beginning of the school year, but she still quite deservedly had the 'Ice Queen' moniker hanging around her neck. Still...

Blake studied Yang closely. She still wasn't being honest. Everything she said made sense, but there was something else she wasn't saying. But Blake just nodded and said she'd ask Velvet before class. If Yang didn't want to talk about it there was no sense trying to force her.

When Blake relayed Yang's invitation and plans for the evening Velvet seemed happy with the idea. Well, really she seemed a little nervous, but she always seemed nervous so it wasn't anything to worry about.

Yang was in a good mood the rest of the day. She kept humming and smiling to herself and had a spring in her step that didn't get diminished even after Nora completely flattened her in a sparring match in combat class. When Blake caught her dancing to some invisible tune while brushing her teeth she decided she had to ask.

"Is this a date?"

Yang did a spit-take, fortunately into the sink.

"What?"

"Is this your way of getting a date with Velvet?" Blake asked, coolly.

"No!" Yang exclaimed.

"I don't have a problem with it," Blake continued as if Yang hadn't spoken, "but if you're going to date her you don't need me to tag along, you'll do fine on your own."

"This. Is. Not. A. Date." Yang said, biting off each word.

"You sure?"

Yang just glared a response and Blake smiled inwardly. It was a little mean, but it was cute when Yang got riled up. She may not be as fun to agitate as Weiss, but she was definitely cuter.

"Alright," Blake said, "it's not a date. So where are we going anyway?"

Yang rinsed her mouth out before answering. "I made a reservation at Silvio's."

Blake's eyebrows shot up and her inner smile disappeared.

"...Are you sure this isn't a date?"

Silvio's was one of the nicest restaurants in Vale, nestled in the Westerland Hotel in the middle of downtown. Blake had never eaten there before, she couldn't afford it. She was sure Velvet couldn't afford it either. Yang assured them both multiple times on the ride over that she could afford to cover the three of them, but Blake suspected Yang was probably going to be eating lean for the next month to make up for it.

Outside the restaurant Velvet fidgeted nervously. "Are you sure I look alright?" she asked, for the third time that night.

"I keep telling you, you look fantastic," Yang said with a smile.

"You really do look nice," Blake agreed. And she did, she had her hair pulled back into a ponytail and was wearing a simple but very flattering garnet dress. Blake was wearing a fairly plain dark purple dress and a larger bow than usual to hide her ears. Yang was in a sparkly black dress that hugged her curves in all the right ways. They all looked good, Blake thought, but they still looked underdressed next to the other patrons. A man exiting Silvio's as they entered was wearing a watch that looked as expensive as the bus the girls had taken from Beacon. If Yang noticed or cared, she didn't show it, powering through with a boundless confidence.

The maitre d' smiled warmly as Yang approached, Blake and Velvet in tow. The woman's eyes swept over the three and froze for a moment on Velvet and her smile seemed to harden into place. "How can I help you girls?" she asked.

"We have a reservation," Yang said, missing the change in tone, "should be under Xiao Long?"

The maitre d' opened up a book on her stand and ran her finger slowly down the page. Not finding what she was looking for, she flipped the page over and, apparently not finding it there flipped back. "I'm sorry," she said, "I can't find your reservation. Are you sure you didn't place it under another name?"

Yang looked at her two friends, surprised. "Are you sure?" she asked the maitre d'. "I called it in this morning. Can you check again, it's X-i-a-o L-o-n-g."

The woman behind the desk gave an exasperated look but opened up the book again and glanced through the reservations before shaking her head.

"I'm sorry," she said again. "Are you sure you didn't make a mistake and make a reservation somewhere else?" she asked, glancing at Velvet.

"Yes, I'm sure," Yang said, annoyed. "You don't have any tables open?"

"We don't have the wait staff on duty," the maitre d' replied. "You could wait for an unreserved table to open up, but I can't guarantee it will be soon."

"Yang," Velvet said quietly, "maybe we should just go someplace else."

Blake was inclined to agree. She wasn't enamored with the idea of Yang spending all her money on this not-date and the maitre d' was making her uncomfortable. But this was Yang's plan, so Blake stayed silent.

"I'm sure the wait won't be _that_ long," Yang said. "If you really want to go, we can, but I think we should give this place a chance."

Velvet glanced quickly at the maitre d' before nodding and the three settled onto a cushioned bench in the reception area to wait.

For the next half hour they quietly chatted, mostly about school and their friends there. Velvet blushed when Yang asked whether she thought Yatsuhashi was cute and laughed while discussing Coco and Ruby's matching fascination with weapons. Blake largely stayed comfortably quiet, but couldn't help but join in when the two started good naturedly making fun of the craziness of team JNPR, especially when Velvet said they were "the only team nuttier than team RWBY."

All the while patrons were coming in, getting their reservations checked off, and being seated. Each time someone entered Blake would turn her head to watch the group enter and each time she saw them react to the girls waiting on the bench. Some noticed them with casual disinterest and went about their business with no reaction at all, but a few glared at the trio or sneered in disgust. One elderly woman saw them and turned her head, making a point of how determined she was to not see them. Velvet was obviously noticing them too and was becoming more nervous as time passed. Yang was seemingly oblivious.

"Yang," Blake said, finally, "I think we should go."

"You absolutely should," said a voice.

Blake looked up to find a man in a suit standing nearby, in front of the maitre d's station. Judging from his suit and the way the maitre d' was looking at him, Blake guessed that he was probably the manager.

"You've been loitering here a half hour," he said, sternly, "you're not getting served, so just leave."

Anger flashed across Yang's face. "Hey," she said loudly, "we wouldn't be waiting out here if you guys hadn't lost the reservation."

"We didn't lose the reservation," he said. "We're just not serving you."

"Excuse me?" Yang said, jumping to her feet. Blake stood as well, putting a hand on Yang's shoulder, trying to calm her down.

"Yang-" Velvet started, but was cut off by the manager.

"We don't serve her kind her," he said, pointing at Velvet. "So take your pet and get out."

Yang started forward but suddenly Velvet was in front of her, blocking her way.

"Yang!" she shouted. "No. Let's go."

"But he-"

"Yang," Velvet said pleadingly, "I don't want this, please."

Yang glared at the manager and Blake wasn't sure if she'd back down. After a moment's hesitation though she turned and without another word stormed out of the restaurant. Velvet followed after, slower and trying to keep as much dignity as she could. Blake was the last one out the door and as it closed heard the manager mutter "Faunus lover," under his breath.

Outside Yang was livid and Velvet was trying her best to calm her down. "How can you be so calm?" Yang shouted, gesturing wildly in frustration. "You heard what he said about you!"

"Of course I heard," Velvet said softly.

"Then why aren't you angry?" Yang yelled.

"Of course I'm angry!" Velvet shouted back, "But that doesn't _help_ any! If I let you beat him up you'd be in trouble, he'd still hate me, and the cycle of hate and violence would just spin on and on! He's wrong. I'm not going to be wrong too."

"But," Yang started, and just trailed off hopelessly.

Blake walked over to the blonde and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder. "Come on," she said softly, "let's go home."

The bus ride back was quiet. Blake and Velvet made halfhearted attempts at conversation, but neither of them felt up to it. Yang was completely silent and stared out the window the entire trip. They walked Velvet back to the second year's dorms where she finally broke the quiet that had enveloped them all.

"Yang," she said, turning to the blonde girl, "thank you."

"I didn't do anything," she muttered.

Velvet pulled Yang into a tight hug. "Yes you did," she whispered, then turned and disappeared into the building. Yang stood watching after the girl for a long time in silence and Blake stood behind her, waiting. Blake had never seen her usually energetic and upbeat teammate like this and she was growing increasingly concerned.

"Yang," she called softly.

"Yeah," Yang said, her voice cracking, "we can go, I just need a minute."

Yang turned to face Blake and Blake was taken aback by the look on Yang's face. Her eyes were watery and her features were frozen in a state of regret and anguish.

"I didn't do anything," Yang whispered.

"You tried," Blake said gently, reaching out to her friend and touching her arm softly.

"No," Yang snapped sharply, pulling away from Blake. "You don't understand! The day we saw her in the cafeteria! I didn't do anything!"

Blake blinked in surprise. "Is that why you wanted to take her out?" Blake asked softly, "I'm sure she doesn't blame you for that."

"No, I... I mean yes, but..." Yang groaned in frustration, groping for the words. "I didn't _do_ anything. I saw her being hurt for being a faunus and I did nothing. I didn't even say anything." She hugged herself tightly. "I didn't even _notice_ until Jaune said something," she said softly. "I didn't care... She was just a faunus... It happens all the time..."

She was refusing to meet Blake's eyes, but Blake could see tears creeping down her cheeks. "I always thought I was a good person, but people have been getting hurt in front of me all my life and I did nothing to stop it. I did nothing until you..."

Yang choked back a sob and Blake embraced her, holding her tight. Yang grasped back, holding on as if for her life and buried her face in Blake's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Yang said in between sobs. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Blake just held her and felt her own hot tears slide down her cheeks.

"It's okay," she said softly. "It's going to be okay."

They held each other for a long time, too scared to let go of one another. After what could have been minutes or hours their tears slowly faded and they walked off into the night together.

The next morning there was an article in the paper detailing a vandalism case. Someone had thrown a rock through the window of an upscale restaurant. There were no suspects. It ultimately helped very little.


End file.
